Research: More Than 1 Billion DTV Homes By Year End

NEW YORK--There will be more than 1 billion digital TV households across 138 countries by the end of this year, after 130 million new DTV homes were added in 2013. That number stood at 590 million in 2010, illustrating a significant uptake in the past few years. That's according to a new report from Digital TV Research," The Digital TV World Household Databook," which also states that digital cable TV has become the most popular platform, with 374 million subscribers expected by the end of 2014. Digital cable overtook analog cable in 2013 and analog terrestrial in 2014.

In addition, the number of homes paying for IPTV will more than triple between 2010 and 2014, the Digital TV Research report says.

Global digital TV penetration will reach two-thirds of TV households by end-2014; up from 40.5 percent at the end of 2010. Digital TV penetration will range from 97.1 percent in North America down to 51.5 percent in Latin America. The top five countries account for 55 percent of the world's digital TV households.

Thirteen countries will have 100 percent digital TV penetration by the end of this year, with an additional 25 countries over 90 percent. However, penetration will be lower than 50 percent of TV households in 45 countries, with El Salvador the lowest (13 percent). Digital TV penetration will more than double in 68 countries between 2010 and the end of this year.

Digital TV Research said of the 461 million digital TV households to be added between 2010 and 2014, 292 million (nearly two-thirds of total additions) will be in the Asia Pacific region, bringing its total to 517 million.

China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010; more than doubling to 289 million digital TV homes (27.5 percent of the world's total) by end-2014. The USA will retain second place, with third-placed India adding 59 million digital homes to take its total to 96 million by December 2014. Brazil will nearly quadruple its total to reach to 36 million by the end of this year.

The number of pay TV households (analog and digital) will reach 886 million by the end of 2014, up from 715 million in 2010. The top five countries will account for nearly two-thirds of the total. China will add 63 million pay TV subs between 2010 and 2014, with India bringing in an extra 31 million and Brazil 10 million. Pay TV subscriptions will more than quadruple in 13 countries between 2010 and 2014. However, the number of pay TV subscribers will fall in six countries.

Global pay TV penetration will increase from 49.1 percent in 2010 to 57.1 percent in 2014. By end-2014, penetration will be as low as 19 percent in the Middle East and North Africa but as high as 85 percent in North America. Pay TV penetration will exceed 70 percent of TV households in 32 countries by end-2014, but 55 countries will be below 30 percent of TV households. Pay TV penetration will fall in 11 countries (including the U.S.) between 2010 and 2014.

This summer, American consumers will be able to receive HDTV programming via cable without a set-top box on DTV units 36 inches and up; the Consumer Electronics Association predicts that by the end of the year, more than one million of these "Digital Cable Ready (DCR)" DTVs will have been sold. Under terms of the cab

Although no one is quite sure how many digital homes are actually watching HD content, more than half of American households now have at least one DTV set, says the Consumer Electronics Association, with about 80 percent of those digital sets capable of 1080p, 1080i or 720p.